UM SPH Office of Communications

Our mission: To increase the national and international visibility of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and to foster connections between the school and its various constituencies.

Terri Mellow, Director, twm@umich.edu, 734-764-8094

Laura Bailey, Public Relations Representative, baileylm@umich.edu, 734-764-1552; 734-647-1848;

Mary Beth Lewis, Web Communications Specialist, lewismb@umich.edu, 734-615-2279

Leslie Stainton, Editor of Findings magazine, stainton@umich.edu, 734-936-1246

Tasha Edwards, Student Assistant, 734-615-5630

Office of Communications, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029 Telephone: 734-615-5630; Fax: 734-763-5455

SPH Digital Signage

The SPH Office of Communications manages the content that appears on digital signs at UM SPH. General content is "fed" to department signs, along with departmental event listings. Each department has designated liaisons to provide department-specific content for the signs. Please note that content cannot be fed to the interactive signs in the lobbies of SPH I and II except via the event listings.

If you would like to add content to a sign, please contact your departmental liaison or send email to sph.web@umich.edu. Preferred formats are PowerPoint slides; PDFs and images should be landscape style (wider than they are tall). Please be sure that you hold copyright to any content you submit for display. More information.

SPH Display Cases

Currently on view for fall 2011:

China Collaboration: Asthma Education Program, UM Center for Managing Chronic Disease
Planet Blue initiative at UM
Faculty books

Display Case Policy and Exhibit Application (PDF)

Dimensions of Cases:

Crossroads (PDF)
SPH I (PDF)

Event Publicity Tips

When publicizing an event or opportunity via e-mail at SPH, please be considerate about the file size and the number of announcements you send to the school e-mail groups sph.faculty, sph.staff, and umsph-open. Usually 1 or 2 messages will be enough to reach people who are likely to act upon your information. More than that risks becoming a nuisance.

To get your news out:

1. Submit events to the SPH online calendar. This will broadcast via RSS to subscribers and the SPH Twitter feed, and on new digital signage in the cafe and appropriate departments. It will also generate a URL for your event that you can link to. To have a graphic flier posted on digital signage, contact sph.web@umich.edu

2. Post your event to the SPH Facebook wall.

3. Utilize the umsph-open@umich.edu forum that reaches SPH students and others who have opted-in. Details.

4. Build a contact list of people likely to show up at your events. Suggest also that they subscribe to the SPH online calendar's RSS feed for news about upcoming events.

5. Contact the Office of Communications at for assistance publicizing your events via SPH web home page headlines, announcements to media, and the e-newsletter news@sph.

6. Send major-event announcements to the University Record, the Ann Arbor Observer, and the ASPH Friday Letter.

7. Request major-event display space in the SPH Crossroads display cases (see above).

Press Release Boilerplate

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been working to promote health and prevent disease since 1941, and is consistently ranked among the top schools in the country. Faculty and students in the school's five academic departments and dozens of collaborative centers and institutes are forging new solutions to the complex health challenges of today, including chronic disease, health care quality and finance, emerging genetic technologies, climate change, socioeconomic inequalities and their impact on health, infectious disease, and the globalization of health. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, our faculty, students, and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect our health.

UM Guidelines

UM Communicators Forum posts links to guidelines regarding:

UM Regents List
UM Nondiscrimination Policy statement
UM Freedom of Expression statement
UM Campus Safety statement
UM Logos, Seals, and Colors policies
Intellectual Property and Copyrights

Read the SPH 2011 student blogs.

Social Media @UM SPH

Policy: The University of Michigan School of Public Health welcomes your opinions, and encourages open discussion about the information we post on our social media channels. If we become aware of messages that contain commercial advertising, are off-topic, use offensive or inappropriate language, are intended to insult or defame, infringe someone's rights, or are a violation of law, we reserve the right to remove them. Thank you for following our activities.

Photography:

Annuall faculty photo shoots are sponsored by the Office of Communications, most recently on Oct. 4, 2011. Throughout the year, contact UM Photo Services for photos.

More Resources:

Working with the Media
Faculty are encouraged to speak with the media. Always identify your affiliation to UM SPH when talking to the media. Notify the Office of Communications with each inquiry; camera crews and reporters must be chaperoned by SPH Communications staff when in the SPH buildings. Tips for working with the media. For the media training, contact Terri Mellow.

SPH Logos
Specify purpose and format when requesting SPH logo files from the Office of Communications.

Business Cards & Letterhead
Available through UM Printing Services. Note when ordering that the new address for the School of Public Health is 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029.